News from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

For more information contact: Maureen Wren, 518-402-8000

New York Forest Rangers, DEC Staff and Trained Volunteers Join Fight Against California Wildfires

New York Team Regularly Called Upon by U.S. Forest Service

ALBANY, NY (08/01/2008; 1216)(readMedia)-- New York Forest Rangers, other Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) personnel, and trained volunteers left Friday to join the effort to combat raging wildfires in northern California, Commissioner Pete Grannis announced.

Besides rangers, the crew will include personnel from DEC's lands and forests, operations and spills programs. They likely will be at the California fires for two weeks.

"New York State's highly trained fire responders are again being called to assist California in the ongoing wildfire fighting," Commissioner Grannis said. "Their valuable work will be a tremendous help and positive learning experience that can bring home to New York."

The firefighters are being dispatched through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Forest Service. This agreement allows for the sharing and dispatching of firefighters throughout the country. New York forest fire crews score consistently high performance ratings and, therefore, are routinely called upon by the U.S. Forest Service to assist in other states. A DEC crew that departed last month recently returned after a 14-day combat effort against raging wildfires at the Los Padres National Forest in Big Sur, California.

Today's crew of 20 departed by bus from DEC's Saratoga Springs Tree Nursery and Fire Cache and is traveling to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In Harrisburg, the New York crew was slated to join crews from other states and fly directly to California. The crews are expected to spend 14 days on active fires that will be determined upon arrival. Updates on nationally reported wildfires are posted at http://www.fs.fed.us/news/fire/index.shtml.

This DEC crew includes:

• Forest Ranger Timothy J. Carpenter, Crew Boss
  DEC Volunteer Kerry E. Gregg, Squad Boss
  Forest Ranger Sarah B. Geesler
  Forest Ranger Jenifer L. Temple
  DEC Land Surveyor Michael D. Carroll
  DEC Operations Technician Joseph M. Pries
  DEC Volunteer Christopher M. Kennedy
  DEC Volunteer Douglas R. Putnam
  Forest Ranger Joseph C. Hess, Squad Boss
  Forest Ranger Suzanne M. Heare
  Forest Ranger Megan E. McCone
  DEC Forester Jason M. Drobnack
  DEC Mineral Resource Specialist Paul M. Giachetti
  DEC Forestry Technician Kraig R. Senter
  Forester Ranger Bryan P. Gallagher, Squad Boss
  DEC Volunteer Anthony E. Cabales
  DEC Volunteer Jonathan F. Dedrick
  DEC Engineer Anthony Y. Leung
  Forest Ranger Marie C. Ellenbogen
  DEC Volunteer Joseph P. Schuck

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